1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle information collection system for collecting vehicle information such as travel position and vehicle speed from a vehicle by way of a communication network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A road traffic information providing system has been proposed in, for example, JP-A-2000-48300 and JP-A-2001-118190 that produces road traffic information and provides the road traffic information to drivers of vehicles using information that has been transmitted though radio communication from vehicles that are traveling on roads.
To improve the accuracy of the road traffic information, information must be collected from a large number of vehicles. Systems have been realized in taxi companies and transport companies to receive various types of information during vehicle travel by way of radio transmission lines from vehicles for business use that belong to the companies, and then implement dynamic management over the vehicles for business use (management of travel positions and management of, for example, the presence or absence of freight or passengers). It is conceivable to use such a system to collect from each vehicle information that would be useful for producing, for example, road traffic information. However, in a system for implementing dynamic management of vehicles, there is a limitation in the number of vehicles and the range of travel of the vehicles, making it difficult to collect information in sufficient quantity to raise the accuracy of road traffic information.
In order to cope with this problem, a road traffic information providing system has been proposed in, for example, JP-A-2003-203296 that in order to collect information from a large number of vehicles, adopts an arrangement wherein points that are equivalent to a monetary value are granted to individuals who have provided vehicle information by way of vehicles.
However, although the on-board device in the road traffic information providing system described in JP-A-2003-203296 is capable of displaying accumulated points, it is unable to receive the on-line services that are provided based on accumulated points (refer to paragraph 0011 of JP-A-2003-203296). Accordingly, for users such as the drivers of vehicles, the points are difficult to use and the advantages derived from using the points have not been utilized. As a result, these points do not contribute greatly toward the efficient collection of vehicle information. In addition, in the road traffic information providing system that is described in JP-A-2003-203296, the road traffic center that provides the road traffic information issues the points. In other words, the points are used for nothing more than the collection of information for preparing road traffic information.